Shanghai glows on influencer during Nanjing Road E. stroll
Print Edition
FOR influencer Libby, known online as “itsjavachip,” Shanghai’s Nanjing Road E. was more than a shopping destination — it was a window into modern China.
Originally from London but living in New York, Libby gained popularity through game streaming, particularly her early playing of Chinese-developed action RPG Black Myth: Wukong.
It marked a turning point. Overnight, her content was translated, reposted and celebrated on Chinese media. That unforeseen connection sparked a journey that would eventually bring her face to face with Shanghai’s unique blend of tradition and futurism.
On her latest and longest trip to China, she partnered with City News Service to delve deeper into the city. Central to her exploration was Nanjing Road E. — one of the world’s busiest commercial streets and a living museum of Shanghai’s evolving identities.
“It’s one of the most unique cities I’ve visited,” she remarked. “Shanghai feels like the future, yet it gently embraces the past.”
Libby’s day began at the POPMART Global Flagship Store, located at the entrance of Hongyi Plaza.
As she stepped into a world filled with blind boxes and collectible figurines, giant figures of Skullpanda and Labubu loomed above her. For a content creator deeply immersed in digital culture, this space felt like a real-life extension of her aesthetic: playful, tech-savvy and visually striking. “There’s such a wide variety of stores here — many distinctly Chinese stores like POPMART.”
At the historic Wang Kai Photography Studio, she wore a custom-fitted qipao and posed for portraits under vintage lighting.
This moment — dressed in a symbol of old Shanghai glamour, captured in film and memory — represented what Libby later described as “the most fun experiences... where I got to see, like, east meets west or, like, something traditional brought to the future.”
She headed for lunch at the Shen Da Cheng, an authentic Shanghainese restaurant where the aroma of sweet rice and savory crab soup dumplings lingered in the air.
Food, for Libby, was narrative.
“The food is incredible,” she said. “I haven’t had a bad meal here. I don’t think I could have a bad meal here if I tried, frankly.”
What struck out was not just the dumplings, but a chance late-night supper outside her hotel the night before. She had come into a restaurant with no English and no pictorial menu, hungry and overwhelmed, until a local who spoke both Mandarin and English stepped in to help.
“He actually invited me to his table. He’s with his girlfriend... and he was teaching me and like sharing food with me,” she recalled. “It was just this beautiful moment around food, but I feel like it was such a perfect capsule of all that Shanghai is.”
Libby went down a “stylish rabbit hole” in the afternoon at the Bailian ZX Creative Center, a former department store that now sells anime, games, toys, and anything ACG (anime, comic, game).
For a gamer and streamer like her, it was paradise. She visited Tamashii Nations, One Piece Mugiwara Store, Animate, SEGA’s global flagship store and ANIPLEX China, posing with lifesize anime statues and recording brief snippets of hand-painted figurines for her international admirers.
Bailian ZX showed her the Chinese fan economy in full bloom, from Tamashii Nations’ valuable figurines to anime and game hero pop-up boutiques. The installations, character cocktails and unending merchandise walls felt familiar and alien. “Shanghai in my opinion does a really good job of having both (old and new) coexist in a way that doesn’t feel like one is trying to shut the other out.”
As the sun softened over the pedestrian street, Libby reached the stately Cai Tong De Tang, Shanghai’s oldest traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy and clinic. She experienced the clash between traditional practice and modern infrastructure here.
“There were a couple of things I got to do to experience like traditional Chinese medicine and also some older crafts. That feels really nice like tie back to things,” she said. “But it wasn’t something that felt like a ritual to honor the past... it still felt very modern.”
As sunlight filtered through the glass facades, Libby paused near the center of Nanjing Road E. She watched people pass, listening to conversations, and breathing in a moment of quiet on Shanghai’s busiest thoroughfare.
That day became a snapshot in her memory, not preserved on camera but indelibly imprinted in emotion. And when she turned to walk again, she knew she wasn’t leaving Shanghai or Nanjing Road behind.
It was the beginning.
“I’m already planning my return.”
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